There's Nothing Like In-Person Trading

      Personally, as a card collector one of my favorite things to do is trade cards, usually helping to build up two collections  Also, whenever my friend John (Adventures of a Baseball Card Collector) pays a visit, my collection gets smaller (but better, so don't you worry). This past Saturday I spent some time trading with him, and acquired a rather interesting bunch of cards. 

    It's been my procrastinated goal for a while now to start collecting a few hockey cards, and John helped me take my first eight baby steps into a minor collection. I only intend to collect a few hundred hockey cards, but I tend to veer off my collective plan more often than not. These few cards made for a nice little start, as I'm really into the designs of the cards. These include 2016-2017 Upper Deck Artifacts, 2016-2017 Upper Deck Series 2, 2013-2014 Upper Deck Series 2, and of course, the 2013-2014 Panini Prizm. The only guy I previously knew in this small pile is Noah Hanfin, who I briefly had on my fantasy hockey team a few weeks ago. I hope my local card shop can aid me in my hockey card endeavors. I'll need to take a look next time I'm over there.

   

   I traded for this card purely because of the hilarious pink jersey. Laga played parts of nine seasons in the majors (1982-1990),  with the Cardinals, Tigers and Giants. In 188 games, the first baseman batted .199 with 16 home runs.

    These two cards came in the same trade, which also included the next card. I added another un-owned Ripken to my personal collection in the form of Studio '91, which I think was a decent design. The addition of the Craig Kimbrel was nice too. He looks so young in the picture! 2014 Topps Upper Class is a design that I really like. The red and gold mix really well with this card. The corners are a little roughed up on the card, as well as a small crease on the upper right side, but it didn't take much to get the card, so I don't mind. I hope Craig Kimbrel can clean things up in 2025, but he'll be 37 and coming off his worst season (5.33 ERA), so he may be done as a closer in the majors.

    This was the card I was seeking pretty much from minute one.  I have a soft spot for catchers, and the card looked so good, so it became the top priority in terms of trading. Christopher Wallace was drafted in the 16th round of the 2010 June Amateur Draft. Expecting to get drafted later, this pleasantly surprised him. Wallace played 5 seasons in the minors with the Astros and Indians, including 52 games and parts of three seasons in AAA. Across his minor league career, Wallace batted .270/.341/.445 with 39 home runs and 185 RBI in 315 games. 2015 was his last year of professional baseball, which he spent in the Atlantic League. Wallace batted .257 with 17 home runs in 129 games before calling it quits. 

    And my trading ends with a non-sports card. I was about through with the trades before this one caught my eye. This is card one of the five-card 2005 King Kong - Kong Flocked insert set (thanks for the clarification TCDB). The fur on Kong is....actually furry, which is a nice addition to an already awesome card. I've never seen the movie -- I like to stick to the original Godzilla films with the rubber suits and all that good stuff.

    That was already a great day of trading in my book, but then John dropped a half-dozen vintage Topps on me for no return. It made for a nice little surprise.

    It doesn't matter who the player (or usually even the set) is, I'll always like some vintage baseball cards. Though these cards aren't exactly in the best condition, I still enjoy them. Besides, they were free. The top four are all 1959 Topps, and the bottom two are '61 and '69.

    So ends the acquisitions from John's last visit. I really like getting the oppurtunity to trade cards in-person with people. It's nice to see what the fellow collector has brought along with him, and offers the oppurtunity to trade for cards I otherwise wouldn't -- like the King Kong card. It adds some fun into the day whenever John comes over.

    Thanks for the cards John!  And thank y'all for spending time at Don Cardwell. I hope you enjoyed, have a great start to the week, and happy collecting!

Redemption

    A couple years ago I gave this up in a trade; the green Holiday Bowman Luis Robert numbered 14/99. I tried for a long time to get it back from John (GTT), and succeeded to do so on my birthday this year.

    This is Luis alongside the guy I traded him away for (2016 Topps #447 Ben Zobrist). Let's just say I didn't yet appreciate, or understand, the value of serial numbering. Neither did I know what a parallel was. I didn't have to give up a ton to get the card back, and John was pretty cool with the deal. THANK YOU!

    My birthday was ages ago. I just never posted on my 'gifts' from my friend John, though I've been planning on doing it for a long time. Better late than never I guess. 

    Besides trading me back my Luis Robert for a pretty cheap return, he made some other trades with me, and sold me a bunch of cards for a nickel apiece.

    I shall start with the oldest card traded/sold to me that day. 1959 Topps is an interesting set. Honestly, I kinda like the design. I like the bordering for the pictures. I'm not a huge fan of facsimilie autographs though (and yet one of my favorite sets is 2007 Topps). Wally Post had a solid 15-year career with the Reds/Redlegs, Phillies, Indians, and Twins. He played 1,204 games and hit .266/.323/.485 with 210 home runs. He finished 12th in MVP voting in 1955 when he hit .309 with 40 home runs while playing a league-leading 154 games. 

    I also acquired a handfull of 1961 Topps. They may not be in the best condition (especially you Joe Pignatano), but I will never complain about cards over 60 years old, and John is my main source of these.

    Next we have some 1966 Topps. The most notable player here is Lee Maye, who had a solid 13-year career.

    Moving ahead a few years to 1980. I do really like this design, as well as all three of these cards. Frank Tanana is one of my favorites, and I could muse over Ozzie Smith for a long while. 

    We enter the 21st century with some Cal Berkely alumni. Of course, I had to get my hands on Marcus Semien, who cost me only a nickel, and then I added Tyson Ross to make sure Marcus doesn't get lonely. Ross played from 2010-2019. He didn't have the flashiest record in the world at 44-70, but he was an all-star in 2014. I also have the Mark Cahna card from this set, but forgot to take a pic :)

    Tulo is a PC guy for me, and I will not complain about his roommate, Bringer of Rain. The 2016 Topps Back to Back cards have a most interesting and unique design. I like it. The backwards letters are cool, and I like the effect starting on the top and going down the middle of the card where it looks all broken up. 

    I also got these. I like to gather the old contest cards and checklists, which makes it super easy to trade cheaply with every person I do face-to-face trades with.

    I wasn't entirely sure what to make of this card when I got it from John. It's cool to get a card of a senator/actor that has at least something to do with baseball. After reading the back I appreciate the card more.

    Also got the Ketel Marte rookie card. I didn't know who he was until I added him to my fantasy team in 2019. It's funny to think that I knew almost nothing about the baseball players until 2019.

    And I will finish with these two packs of 1994 Upper Deck Denny's Holograms. After seeing on the internet what these bad boys look like, I may open up these single-card packs soon, because they're awesome! It's only a 28-card set; once I open these, I will probably try for the whole package, assuming they're easy enough to find and the prices are acceptable.

    I got plenty more cards from John, but these were the 'highlights' of the day, so to speak. So, months later, I thank you again John for the cool cards. I'm looking forward to when we can trade again.

    I'm afraid I've reached the time when the post ends and I have to sign off. Until next time, thank y'all for reading, have a great rest of the week, and happy collecting!